Interchangeable Patch Hat Apparatus

ABSTRACT

An interchangeable patch hat apparatus for providing variable designs for a single hat includes a hat body having a front portion with a patch aperture extending from an outer surface through an inner surface. A patch has an outer face, an inner face, and a patch edge. The patch is dimensioned to be larger than the patch aperture. A plurality of engagement members comprises a plurality of first engagement members coupled to the patch proximal the patch edge and a plurality of second engagement members coupled to the front portion of the hat body proximal the patch aperture. The first engagement members are selectively engageable with the second engagement members to couple the patch to the hat body and cover the patch aperture. The patch is thus interchangeable to offer a choice of logo or design displayed on the apparatus.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR ASA TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM

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STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the Invention

The disclosure relates to hats and more particularly pertains to a newhat for providing variable designs for a single hat.

(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37CFR 1.97 and 1.98

The prior art relates to hats offering an interchangeable component.Existing devices offer a variety of methods for adding and removingexternal decorative elements.

However, these devices do not offer a fully replaceable section of thehat.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above bygenerally comprising a hat body including a front portion, a backportion, a left portion, a right portion, and a top portion. The hatbody has an outer surface and an inner surface. The front portion has apatch aperture extending through the outer surface to the inner surface.A patch has an outer face, an inner face, and a patch edge. The patch isdimensioned to be larger than the patch aperture. A plurality ofengagement members comprises a plurality of first engagement memberscoupled to the patch proximal the patch edge and a plurality of secondengagement members coupled to the front portion of the hat body proximalthe patch aperture. The first engagement members are selectivelyengageable with the second engagement members to couple the patch to thehat body and covering the patch aperture.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more importantfeatures of the disclosure in order that the detailed descriptionthereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that thepresent contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There areadditional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafterand which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features ofnovelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out withparticularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of thisdisclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than thoseset forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to thefollowing detailed description thereof. Such description makes referenceto the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an interchangeable patch hat apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a front elevation view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through5 thereof, a new hat embodying the principles and concepts of anembodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the referencenumeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 5, the interchangeable patch hatapparatus 10 generally comprises a hat body 12 including a front portion14, a back portion 16, a left portion 18, a right portion 20, and a topportion 22. The hat body 12 has an outer surface 24 and an inner surface26. The front portion 14 has a patch aperture 28 extending from theouter surface 24 through the inner surface 26. A hat bill 30 may becoupled to a lower perimeter 32 of the hat body. The apparatus 10 may bea traditional hat style including, but not limited to, a baseball hat, acowboy hat, a beanie, or the like.

A patch 34 has an outer face 36, an inner face, and a patch edge 40. Thepatch 34 is dimensioned to be larger than the patch aperture 28. Thepatch 34 may be attachable to the outer surface 24 or the inner surface26 of the hat body. When attached to the inner surface 26, the outerface 36 of the patch 34 has an exposed portion 42 conforming to thepatch aperture 28 and an attachment border 44 surrounding the exposedportion 42 and extending to the patch edge 40. The outer face 36 of thepatch is adorned with a logo 46 or design the user wishes to display.The logo 46 or design may be stitched, printed, dyed, or otherwiseapplied on the patch 34. The patch 34 may be constructed of the samematerial as the hat body 12 or as a traditional sewn-on or iron-onpatch. The patch aperture 28 and the patch 34 may have a rotationallyirregular shape such as, but not limited to, ovular, obround, orrectangular to allow the user to easily place the exposed portion 42within the patch aperture 28 such that the logo 46 or design displayedon the patch 34 is oriented correctly and not askew.

A plurality of engagement members 48 comprises a plurality of firstengagement members 50 coupled to the attachment border 44 and aplurality of second engagement members 52 coupled to the inner surface26 of the front portion 14 of the hat body proximal the patch aperture28. The first engagement members 50 selectively engage with the secondengagement members 52 to couple the patch 34 to the hat body 12 andcover the patch aperture 28. The plurality of first engagement members50 and the plurality of second engagement members 52 may be a pluralityof selectively engageable male and female fasteners, respectively, suchas, but not limited to, snaps, hook-and-loop fasteners, and the like. Asshown in FIG. 5, if the plurality of engagement members 48 compriseshook-and-loop fasteners they may be continuously disposed on theattachment border 44 and a corresponding portion of the inner surface 26of the front portion 14 of the hat body surrounding the patch aperture28.

The exposed portion 42 may be raised above the attachment border 44 suchthat the exposed portion 42 rests flush with, or extends beyond, theouter surface 36 of the hat body when the first engagement members 50engage the second engagement members 52. The apparatus 10 thus appearsto be of a traditional construction when the patch 34 is engaged withthe hat body 12.

In use, the patch 34 is selected depending on the logo 46 or designdesired. The first engagement members 50 are engaged with the secondengagement members 52 and the apparatus 10 is then used as a traditionalhat. When the user wishes for a change, the patch 34 is removed andreplaced with another patch 34 displaying a different logo 46 or design.The user may thus own or travel with a single apparatus 10 for a varietyof occasions rather than owning many traditional hats.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized thatthe optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodimentenabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials,shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, aredeemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and allequivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings anddescribed in the specification are intended to be encompassed by anembodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of theprinciples of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications andchanges will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is notdesired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operationshown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications andequivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of thedisclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used inits non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word areincluded, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. Areference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not excludethe possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless thecontext clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.

I claim:
 1. An interchangeable patch hat apparatus comprising: a hatbody including a front portion, a back portion, a left portion, a rightportion, and a top portion, the hat body having an outer surface and aninner surface, the front portion having a patch aperture extending fromthe outer surface through the inner surface; a patch having an outerface, an inner face, and a patch edge, the patch being dimensioned to belarger than the patch aperture; and a plurality of engagement memberscomprising a plurality of first engagement members coupled to the patchproximal the patch edge and a plurality of second engagement memberscoupled to the front portion of the hat body proximal the patchaperture, the first engagement members being selectively engageable withthe second engagement members to couple the patch to the hat body andcovering the patch aperture.
 2. The interchangeable patch hat apparatusof claim 1 further comprising the plurality of first engagement membersbeing coupled to the outer face of the patch and the plurality of secondengagement members being coupled to the inner surface of the hat body.3. The interchangeable patch hat apparatus of claim 2 further comprisingthe outer face of the patch having an exposed portion conforming to thepatch aperture and an attachment border surrounding the exposed portion,the first engagement members being coupled to the attachment border. 4.The interchangeable patch hat apparatus of claim 3 further comprisingthe exposed portion being raised above the attachment border such thatthe exposed portion rests flush with the outer surface of the hat bodywhen the first engagement members engage the second engagement members.5. The interchangeable patch hat apparatus of claim 1 further comprisingthe patch aperture being a rotationally irregular shape such as, but notlimited to, ovular, obround, or rectangular.
 6. The interchangeablepatch hat apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a hat bill coupled toa lower perimeter of the hat body.
 7. An interchangeable patch hatapparatus comprising: a hat body including a front portion, a backportion, a left portion, a right portion, and a top portion, the hatbody having an outer surface and an inner surface, the front portionhaving a patch aperture extending from the outer surface through theinner surface; a patch having an outer face, an inner face, and a patchedge, the patch being dimensioned to be larger than the patch aperture,the outer face of the patch having an exposed portion conforming to thepatch aperture and an attachment border surrounding the exposed portion;and a plurality of engagement members comprising a plurality of firstengagement members coupled to the attachment border and a plurality ofsecond engagement members coupled to the inner surface of the frontportion of the hat body proximal the patch aperture, the firstengagement members being selectively engageable with the secondengagement members to couple the patch to the hat body and covering thepatch aperture.
 8. The interchangeable patch hat apparatus of claim 7further comprising the exposed portion being raised above the attachmentborder such that the exposed portion rests flush with the outer surfaceof the hat body when the first engagement members engage the secondengagement members.
 9. The interchangeable patch hat apparatus of claim7 further comprising the patch aperture being a rotationally irregularshape such as, but not limited to, ovular, obround, or rectangular. 10.The interchangeable patch hat apparatus of claim 7 further comprising ahat bill coupled to a lower perimeter of the hat body.